February until March Break
On February 8th, Brian's grandma passed away. She was 100 years old. A significant milestone! While my kids remember her living with their own grandma, they also remember that she lived in a retirement home for the last leg of the race. I remember she had her own apartment before this in Kitchener but the retirement home is a place where she enjoyed her independence until the end. She enjoyed card games, church services, bingo, meals with others and outings were earlier in her stay and not so much at the end but they still happened. Everyone there seemed to know her and her stories as she took us around to meet everyone when we visited. It all seemed like such a great fit for her. She was happy at our last visit. She had a little apartment that she was so proud of. She was a very stubborn lady and everyone that knew her, knew it, but she was also kind and birthday cards would come, sometimes twice, just in case, with handwritten cursive messages to decipher. Near the end she started losing her short term memory and stories would get retold minutes after they were told, but long term memory was sharp! I was thankful to hear about how she was older than sliced bread! She was a teacher at heart, even though she only taught for a short time before having her children. I heard she went back to work for one year while her husband was off sick, but mostly she was a busy mom that taught her kids. I remember playing many card games of rummy with her when she lived with Brian's mom. She was a walker. Loved a good long walk. Perhaps it was just a beautiful moment for herself, perhaps it led to her longevity even in the last few years with her walker.
I met her long ago while she still owned a cottage that was beloved by all in the family. I am thankful to have visited it before it was sold. So many stories amongst the cousins come from this place.
I was able to have Julie's kids overnight while Brian and Julie helped their mom with their grandma's apartment. I am sure that was difficult but also so nice they could be together.
I am thankful to have known her. We will celebrate her life in May on what would have been her 101st birthday. Rest in peace Great Grandma Stock.
On my mom's birthday, January 7th, my great uncle Reg passed away. This is my grandma Connie's brother. (My mom's, mom's, brother). He was around through all of my childhood as I lived beside my great grandpa. The aunts and uncles all came for regular visits. But even when I didn't live beside him, I was just in Listowel and if there were visitors, we all just got together. My uncle Reg was one of the happiest people I knew growing up. Always a smile. My great uncles were mostly all truckers and he was one of them. His truck was my favourite though. It had a unicorn painted on it. As a kid, this was magical! He would bring it to Listowel and park it at the arena so we could all go see it. I remember him coming to family picnics every summer, I remember going to Christmas's every winter, and then the visits in between that sometimes had baseball games, but always had lots of food and laughter. Everyone called him the Candyman. His celebration of life was like a big family reunion. It was almost like the past gatherings from my childhood. Big tables, food, and catching up. It was less formal than most funerals I have been to and I loved it, although I didn't love the reason it was happening. However, he would have loved it too. My mom too, but instead this year her birthday was shared with him. It was so nice to see so many people that I haven't seen in such a long time. It felt like I remembered my childhood feeling. This was a gift. Rest in Peace Uncle Reg.
For Valentine's Day, and Brian's birthday we went out to the Mandarin for all you can eat. We haven't done this since before Covid began. Life is feeling more and more like the old days but still sometimes things like this pop up and you realize the things that you changed for the circumstances.
On Family Day we got together with the Greenwood community for cookies, juice and an outdoor skate at the community centre. They even had a campfire and tobogganing.
This was basically the only winter day up until this point, so it was nice to be able to do outdoor winter activities. It has been such a mild winter.
I was able to secure a donation of 14 balls for the school from our local Canadian Tire. I love when I can make things like this happen, and am thankful for programs like Jump Start!
The School Community Council (SCC) also put on a scientist in the school night that was well received. Snippets of science and Ride and Roll with science.
We then put on a free pancake breakfast day for the entire school. This is fun for everyone.
Easton won the academic award this month. Big congratulations to him!
Report cards came home and both kids are doing great! Hadley is relieved that she has a much lighter course load and Easton is realizing that grade 8 goes by really quickly and before he knows it, graduation will be here and then high school. He just had his grad photos taken, so one more step closer to graduation.
I went to a regional SCC meeting at the board office and met a few new people where we collaborated and figured out how to make the school experience the best we can.
It was a busy month of extras at the school.
Brian and I are still playing Tuesday night floor hockey and we both love getting out each week to compete (friendly) and have fun.
For the March Break, Easton used his free pass from his birthday to go to Flying Squirrel Trampoline park with his friend Lucas and Lucas's brother Victor.
Easton also had Todd and Shawn come over for a sleepover. Brian, Shawn B and Shawn K, all went out to a bar to catch up and the younger boys played all night, and the next day we enjoyed board games until they had to go home. Hadley requested a quiet March Break, but we did drive to Port Hope to Toe Beans cat cafe. I kind of loved this, mostly for the teen conversation that happens with such a drive, but the kitty's were cute too.
While our March break was low key, it was refreshing and enjoyable.